asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware that there is widespread dissatisfaction with the system of inspection and grading of hotels, and if he is aware that the standards fixed by the Tourist Board are far too high, particularly for hotels in small provincial towns, and if he will have such regulations modified.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Grading of Hotels.
While I am not aware that there is any widespread dissatisfaction with the system of inspection and grading of hotels by the Irish Tourist Board some complaints have been received but on investigation I am satisfied that the board is exercising its functions in a satisfactory way. The Deputy will, no doubt, realise that if the tourist traffic is to be developed on sound lines our accommodation for tourists must be maintained at a high standard.
Is the Minister aware that in small provincial towns there are hotels which do not normally cater for the tourist trade but rather for a passing trade such as commercial travellers, cattle traders, etc.? Is it not unfair to expect that these hotels should conform to the high standards required for tourists hotels?
Surely it is unfair to attempt to catapult these hotels to the highest possible grade in a short period of time?
So far as I know, there is no attempt to catapult provincial hotels, as the Deputy terms it, to the highest possible grade but I do not think anybody will dispute the fact that there was a necessity for improvement. Nobody likes to be told or at least very few people like to be told how to do their business but I am satisfied that in all the circumstances the Tourist Board officials are doing this very necessary work in a fairly satisfactory manner.
I appreciate everything the Minister has said but at the same time I am sure he is aware that there are a number of old family hotels in villages and small towns which have been in existence for 50 years or more and they are actually being asked to take down the word "hotel" from outside their premises, a request which, I think, the Minister will agree is unfair considering that they are catering for the same type of people for which they have always catered.
I agree that in this country we have a number of high-grade hotels but I also know, and so does every Deputy, that we have a large number of establishments purporting to cater for home people as well as for visitors that are not a credit to this country. What the Tourist Board have been trying to do since it was established and what they are still trying to do, as far as I know, in no harsh way or without putting any very heavy burden on the owners of these establishments, is to improve the standards. Deputies and hotel proprietors will have to realise that from this onwards there will be far greater competition for the tourist trade than there has been in the last two or three years.
Would the Minister not make an exception for hotels which do not normally cater for the tourist trade? Are hotels in small country villages going to be put out of business by being forced to expend large capital sums on structural alterations?
Can the Minister say if commercial travellers and cattle traders are not as entitled to as high a standard of hotel accommodation as anybody else in the country?
Of course, they are.